7 Digital Marketing Stats That Caught Our Eye in the Last Week

Livestreaming and mobile ads march on

It's been another intriguing week in the world of digital marketing data. We learned that livestreaming is quickly coming of age, and mobile advertising continues to explode. Here are seven stats that really grabbed our attention:

1. Believe it or not, there are college kids who aren't constantly using smartphones. Software vendor Domo and CEO.com polled more than 2,000 students and discovered that 97 percent of the millennials use their phone daily to do everything from streaming music to planning meetings and accessing financial information. But, that also means 3 percent are not on their iPhones or Samsung Galaxies on a daily basis. Based on the larger narrative about Gen Y and mobile devices, it's somewhat surprising to learn that any such young adults exist at all. Look for Domo and CEO.com's full report on millennials on Aug. 19.

2. Periscope revealed that it has crossed the 10-million-user threshold in less than five months since launching the app, a considerable achievement for a social-media idea—mobile livestreaming—that was barely a "thing" until recently. The Twitter-owned company noted the progress in a blog post, along with this humdinger of a data point: People are watching approximately 40 years worth of livestreaming footage every day on Periscope. That's the equivalent of 21 million minutes every 24 hours.

3. For five weeks, Capital One extended its "What's In Your Wallet?" campaign by enlisting popular Instagrammers—Zach Rose, Kimberly Genevieve and Paul Octavious—and giving them the keys to its Instagram account. The photographers snapped pictures of the interesting things they keep in their wallets—such as love letters, photographs and tickets—which the financial giant later turned into paid ads. All told, the images boosted Capital One's ad recall 16 percent, particularly among Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. In an interesting twist, ad recall increased 25 percent for people ages 45 and older.

4. Brendan Kelly, who plays bass and sings for the punk band The Lawrence Arms and is also an advertising copywriter, has attracted 106,000 followers in eight months for his darkly comical, fictional Twitter account Nihilist Arby's. It's a great case study in building an audience with an unusual voice. You can read about it here.

5. Just weeks ago, Kim Kardashian told a packed house at Cannes that she wouldn't do Instagram ads. But she quickly flip-flopped, promoting the morning-sickness medication Diclegis on the app. (She's pregnant with her and Kayne West's second child.) Everyone understood, and the development flew under the radar. But the Food and Drug Administration last week told Kardashian and Diclegis to knock it off because she didn't put any legal-disclaimer info in the Instagram post. So, she had to push the "delete" button. Ugh, reality TV is so much easier.

But there was some good news for Diclegis: According to Treato, an Internet-based intelligence company focused on the health sector, Kardashian helped boostthe pharma brand's digital buzz more than 500 percent during recent weeks thanks to the sponsorship.

6. Mobile advertising grew 65 percent last year, becoming a $31.9 billion global industry, according to a new report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau. The data from IAB, IAB Europe and IHS Technology also found that spending on mobile display ads shot up 88 percent from 2013 to 2014, reaching $15.1 billion. That's 47 percent of total mobile-ad spending.

7. At the same time, about 40 percent of small retailers appear to be ignoring chances to connect with on-the-go consumers, according to a report today from digital marketing company Netsertive and local-business researcher Borrell Associates. And because merchandisers haven't adjusted to the mobile age, they are leaving massive amounts of money on the table when it comes to cooperative advertising.

"We were stunned to discover that advertisers are leaving $14 billion in 'free advertising' on the table—about twice as much as three years ago," Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates, said in a statement. "This is because co-op programs are out of sync with local advertisers' changing needs, particularly in the digital realm."

Wow, $14 billion—that's a lot of dough. Check out more about the report here.